3 Reasons Why Your House is Cluttered

Have you ever looked around your house and thought, “why is my house such a cluttered wreck?” Confession: I have – and more than once. I ask myself this about my office and my desk almost every day! Let’s examine the top 3 reasons why your house is cluttered!

The ease and speed at which our homes or counters or desks become a cluttered jungle is amazing, isn’t it? It’s like we go a day or two without doing even the smallest amount of tidying and we suddenly have a huge problem on our hands. I totally get it! I mean, wouldn’t you rather sit and watch your current Netflix obsession than declutter your kitchen counters. I definitely would!

So why on earth do our spaces get so cluttered in the first place? I’ll offer you a few little tidbits that I’ve observed in my own home and with my clients.

Reason #1: Our Shopping Habits

Yep, I’m going to start stepping on your toes right out of the gate. We don’t even have to shop until we drop any more. We can shop while we’re dropped from the comfort of our couches, while we’re watching Call the Midwife in our pajama pants. And there’s some influencer out there telling us how wonderful this (fill in the blank) is and how much better it’s going to make our lives constantly! All you have to do is swipe up!

We need to start examining our motives behind our purchases. Our homes are filled to the brim with items we don’t use and that we’ve forgotten we even own! Before swiping our credit or debit card or okaying PayPal purchases, let’s whisper to ourselves,

“Do I really need this?”
“Why am I buying this?”
“Do I already have one of these?”
“Is this the best use of my money?”
“Does this support the life I really want to live?”

Being honest in our answers to those questions will cause us to put that credit card away real quick!

Buying that new shiny item isn’t going to fill the void we’re trying to fill. It’s not going to solve the emotional issue we’re dealing with in our hearts and minds. The new shiny thing likely will cause more problems because the item purchased will be a reminder of our issue. Oh, and we’ve gotta figure out where we’re going to store it and how we’re going to use it. The cycle doesn’t stop!

An easy, and foolproof way to cut the clutter in our house is simply to examine our shopping habits.

Reason #2: We aren’t good editors.

We often think of editing in terms of writing a paper where we’re limited by the number of words we can use or we know we’re going to be judged on our grammar and punctuation. Boy, could our FB friends use an editor, right?

When it comes to our homes, we need to take that same approach. Not that we’re being judged or graded by someone, but because we simply have too much stuff! That stuff is getting in the way of our experiencing life to its fullest.

Think of the time we spend cleaning and tidying. Think of the time we spend thinking about cleaning and tidying! Right? Think of the closets full of clothes that we stare at every day, deciding what to put on our bodies. Think of the closets full of blankets and sheets that we dread opening because they’re such a mess.

If we really took the time to consider our belongings, we would likely come to the conclusion that we don’t need or use a pretty sizable portion of them. This is why practicing regular editing is so vital in our pursuits of organization and tidiness.

Editing takes time. There’s no way around it. Editing can also become a regular practice when we make the conscious decision that it’s an important endeavor for creating time to enjoy our lives again. We can get started with the edit habit by scheduling edit sessions into our days or weeks. Set aside time specifically to edit!

Reason #3: Analysis Paralysis

Experts say that we make 35,000 decisions in the average day! 35,000 – That’s like, umm, 24 decisions a minute, even while we’re sleeping. I find that a little bit of a stretch, but we’ll run with it!

What to wear. What to eat. Where to eat. When to eat. (I like to eat!)

What to watch. What to scroll. When to scroll. When to stop scrolling.

Which load of laundry to do first. When to unload the dishwasher.

I think that point has been made!

After making all the regular everyday decisions, making decisions about the things we own can be overwhelming. After a long day at work or dealing with the ever-changing wants of small children, we’d much rather veg on the couch with the remote than spend time in a closet deciding which of our 100 shirts we really don’t need or wear anymore.

Or maybe we start the process of a good purge, but get hung up on one item that was gifted to us by someone special in our lives. Our minds go down a rabbit hole. We love that person and this item reminds us of that one time…but I never use this particular item, but if I get rid of it, do I sell it or donate it…or maybe “so and so” would like this…but maybe not.

We walk away exhausted and have made little progress. We put off our decluttering, purging, organizing project until….often times NEVER! And so begins the vicious cycle!

Are any of these the cause of clutter in your house?